Czech Republic Security Threats

Data and information about security threats from the Czech Republic’s black market. Intelligence and security information collected from government agencies, news articles and other public data sources.

The European Commission for Home Affairs released a study that found the European Union loses at least $162 Billion (€120 Billion) to corruption each year.

More than 75 percent of citizens in EU member states believe that corruption is widespread in their country. More than half also stated that they felt corruption was increasing in their country.

The top countries where citizens expected to pay bribes to officials were in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. In these countries, between 6 to 29 percent of people surveyed reported that they had either been asked for a bribe or was expected to pay a bribe within the last year. In many of the incidents, the bribes were prevalent in the healthcare industry. An example was previously reported in about the corruption in Romania’s healthcare industry.

The lowest rate of bribes were reported in the United Kingdom, where less than 1 percent reported that they either paid a bribe or were expected to.

In a survey of businesses, four out of 10 companies stated that corruption was an obstacle to doing business in the EU.

According to city officials, there are around 100 brothels operating in the city of Prague, Czech Republic. In addition to the brothels, there are around 1000 private apartments where prostitution occurs.

Previous reports found that the illegal prostitution industry in the Czech Republic generates $200 Million a year.

The Office of the German Drug Czar reported that there were 2,556 identified crystal meth users in the country in 2012. The number of users was higher higher than the 1,693 crystal meth abusers identified in 2011. (See more facts about meth addiction.)

Criminal justice agencies in Germany seized over 75 kilograms of crystal meth in 2012, up from the 40 kilograms that was seized in 2011.

Officials state that most of the crystal meth use in German is focused inn border states with the Czech Republic, where the drug is produced.

In total, there were 19,559 illegal drug users in Germany in 2012, down from the 21,315 users in 2011.

According to a survey conducted by Transparency International Czech Republic, the typical bribe paid in the Czech Republic was between $248 to $497 (5,000 to 10,000 Czech Korunas). The majority of the locations where bribes were paid was at vehicle testing locations where car emissions are tested, health centers for better service, and traffic cops.

Along with the Czech Republic, Nordic countries have a high rate of addicts receiving drug treatment for use of amphetamines.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and Finland have between 57 percent of 82 percent of all drug treatment residents being addicted to amphetamines, according to the United Nations.